Frankenstein

Peter Cushing cooks up the monster in the British-made Curse of Frankenstein

It's alive—again

After the American run of Frankenstein films petered out near
the mid-twentieth century, the monster was becoming a kid's comic character.

But then the British took up the tale and took it seriously. Not so much continuing the now very confused storyline, but re-imagining the Frankenstein myth from the beginning.

Which—come to think of it—is only fair, since Frankenstein was an English creation in the first place.

The doctor is in

The Hammer Film studios started with The Curse of
Frankenstein, pairing Peter Cushing
and Christopher Lee as the doctor and monster respectively and bringing a
more psychological flavour to the tale.

Christopher Lee is the monster

Once again the film is only very
loosely based on the Shelley story. Victor Frankenstein (at least he's
named Victor now, rather than Henry as in the Universal flicks) carries out
experiments on reanimating dead animals, becoming obsessed with creating a
superior human being. He turns evil himself, stooping to murder to protect his project. He uses the flawed creature he creates to
carry out further dirty work and is brought back to his senses only when
his fiancée is threatened by it.

As in the novel, the attention is paid more to Frankenstein
the scientist than to his creation.

The film is book-ended by
Cushing's Frankenstein in prison, recounting his story of
creating and trying to control the monster, although it's never
clear how sane the storyteller is or how much he should be
believed. In the main part of the story though, he's a
steely-eyed, determined man, not given to the previous screen
Frankenstein's hysterics.

Lee's monster is also closer to how a Mary Shelley reader
might imagine him: the square-topped head and neck bolts are
gone, and he looks like he's been stitched together from dead
body parts. He's also clearly psychotic.

The film's colour is beautifully rich, which is welcome after all those
black-and-white Hollywood movies.

By today's standards this is a low-keyed film for the
genre. But at the time it was considered a grisly, bloody sensation. Its success, coupled with that of the studio's Dracula the next year,
turned Cushing and Lee into major horror and suspense stars.